Ryan Bridge: It's not the mistakes that kills trust, it's the accountability dodgers

There's an air of arrogance and butt-covering to the stench that is Moa point.

In a nutshell, the council, its water management company and the contractor were all a bit shit at their jobs.

And Wellington's South Coast has been shat on.

Simon O'Connor: Accountability lost

With apologies to John Milton for misusing his title, but does New Zealand have an accountability issue? Recent events suggest the answer is yes, and our democracy is the poorer for this.

Accountability is a cornerstone of a successful democracy. Yet it is rarely discussed, particularly when public debate is increasingly dominated by topics such as artificial intelligence, social media, and the causes of political division.

Bob Edlin: After 12 years in Parliament, Mayor Little may have been conditioned to taking a dip in unsavoury waters

Wellington mayor Andrew Little made headlines around the world after he took an afternoon dip last week, hoping to assuage public fears after a breakdown at a local waste water treatment plant pumped raw sewage into the ocean and faecal matter was sprayed on coastal homes.

Millions of litres of raw sewage have flowed into the waters off Wellington’s picturesque south coast beaches since the breakdown of the Moa Point facility on February 4.

Dr Michael Johnston: A question of priorities

It is more than two weeks since the catastrophic failure of Wellington’s sewage treatment plant at Moa Point. Massive quantities of raw sewage continue to flow into Cook Strait. Many of Wellington’s beaches will likely be closed for months.

The immediate cause of the failure appears to have been a blocked pipe. The inside of the facility was flooded, badly damaging the plant.